The new coach is creepy, and the guys on the football team are worried he'll do something to Kurt. Turns out that's not what they need to worry about, because according to the man, Kurt's too smart to let it happen. And Finn isn't. Trigger: sexual abuse.

A/N: Written for this prompt on the glee_angst_meme: "Ken quits, he just can't stand being around Emma and Will day in and day out. The guy who replaces him is a super creepster who makes all the jocks uncomfortable. Finn and Puck decide that they need to protect Kurt just in case. Instead the coach begins to sexually abuse Finn, explaining that he picked him because he's so stupid.

Lots of angsting on Finn's part and believing that he's stupid and deserves the abuse. Happy ending preferred. Bonus points for Will having a Pappa Bear freak out of epic proportions."

Coach Tanaka quit at the start of the year; something to do with the whole mess with Ms. Pilsbury. Guess you couldn't blame him.

Still, didn't stop his replacement being a creep and a half.

"Hello, boys," said The Guy Who Was the Replacement, calling all their attention. "Can you listen up, please?"

Okay, Finn was pretty sure none of the guys were going to listen, and he really didn't want to himself. Still, he was the nice guy and the quarterback, so he told them all to shush it anyway.

The Guy Who Was the Replacement smiled at him. "Thanks, Finn," he said, and Finn took a second to wonder how this dude knew his name. "Anyway, as you all know, Coach Ken Tanaka has resigned. I'm Harry Gregor, his replacement. Call me Greg."

The guys shared smirks and who does this guy think he is, really? scoffs. Then The Guy Who Was the Replacement Who Was Now Called Greg cleared his throat.

"Look, I know you boys suffered a… pretty terrible game last season," says 'Greg', eying them all appraisingly. Finn shuffled, feeling defensive but with no idea how to defend himself. Dude, it wasn't their fault.

Okay, maybe it totally was but whatever.

"I don't want to just throw blame around," said 'Greg', starting to pace around the football players. Finn vaguely wanted to start humming the Jaws music. "I just want to do everything better. I've got a real feeling we could do well. Don't let me down, boys."

"Your form of 'not throwing blame around' seems to chiefly feature passive-aggressive implications that the previous coach could not possibly have been as good as you, and you are automatically better. It's quite interesting," says Kurt, making everyone remember he's, y'know, there.

Kurt's short, okay?

'Greg' (at some point, he'd have to take that out of mental air-quotes) stared at Kurt, as if he didn't quite realize what was just said. "Um. I think you misunderstood me."

Kurt shrugged. "No matter. I'm only really here because Coach Sylvester demanded. Something about boosting the football team to probably boost the Cheerios during the season, which I will return to in the second half of the year. I don't get it either, but Coach Sylvester is scary."

"God, shut up Hummel," Puck groaned, drawing an annoyed look. The rest of the guys murmured their agreement. "And don't give me shit about the whole being prejudiced thing or whatever; I don't care which way you swing, just stop talking."

'Greg' looked confused for a few seconds, until he looked a little closer at Kurt and it clicked. "Oh," he said, and Kurt looked away. 'Greg' only kept his eyes on Kurt for a couple more seconds, then started moving again. "Anyway, most importantly, I want you boys to trust me. From the looks of it, you don't so far, but we've just met, so that's to be expected. Anyway, I want you boys to know you can trust me. I want to be someone you can go to when you just really need someone you can go to. Okay?"

He finished this speech by laying a hand on Kurt's shoulder, who not-very-subtly leaned away. The guys, including Kurt, all shared a look – the one that means, dude, creeping much?

"Anyway," said 'Greg', "All of you, go get changed."

It was Kurt who brought it up.

"So, new coach," he said, reaching for his own cubicle – yeah, there was a cubicle with a door and everything in the change rooms. No-one really used it when Kurt wasn't there, but he always insisted on it, allegedly due to the unsanitary conditions of the change rooms. Finn didn't think that was it, but he kind of didn't like to think about it. "Is he creeping everyone else right the fuck out?"

"Fuck yes," said Mike, and everyone cracked up. "What with the staring and touching you and all?"

"Dude, seriously. 'I want to be someone you can come to.' Yeah, I don't think we'll be doing that unless he forces us."

"Dude, not funny," said Matt, Puck just shrugged. Finn frowned in confusion, because he didn't get it – there was some kind of implication in that, wasn't there?

Kurt grimaced. "You boys are doing a terrible job reassuring me it's fine and that I was just being paranoid," he said.

"To be fair, I think only half of us actually know what paranoia is," says Mike.

"Hey!" yelled Finn. "I so know what it is. It's… something to do with spiders, isn't it?"

The guys cracked up. Finn looked down in embarrassment. "You know, I didn't actually say you," said Mike. "You could have totally avoided embarrassing yourself if you'd just stayed quiet."

Finn scowled. "Shut up."

"Seriously though," said Puck, looking at Kurt again, "Tell us if that freak tries something. Because we'll totally kick his ass for you, promise."

Kurt blinks in confusion. "Um. Okay. Not sure how why it would relate to you, given your usual attitude towards me, but thanks."

Puck rolled his eyes. "You don't get this whole 'team' thing much, do you? You're a queeny bitch, but you're our queeny bitch. That douche sticks his hands where they're not wanted and it's our duty to chop 'em off for you."

Kurt looked Finn for advice on how to respond. Finn shrugged. "It's his version of being nice. Just go with it," he said.

After practice, 'Greg' asked Finn to stay back for a few minutes. He looked at Kurt for confirmation.

"You can just go, you know, I'll find someone to…" Finn said.

"It's a few minutes, Finn; I'll wait in the car," said Kurt, before walking off. Finn turned to his new coach.

"So, what is this about?" asked Finn, a little nervous. How had he gotten in trouble already?

"What? Oh, yeah," said Finn. "Dude, wouldn't it suck if I was the wrong guy and you held me back here for no reason and the actual guy you wanted to talk to was gone?"

'Greg' laughed. "Yeah," he said. "Anyway, I thought we should talk because… well, you're important. Most important player in this game. If I need to know any of the guys on this team well, I need to know you."

"Oh. Uh…" Finn wasn't really sure how to respond. "Thanks?"

"You're welcome," said 'Greg', sounding amused. "I might focus a bit on you. Don't freak. It's just because of your position and all that. You get it, right?"

Finn nodded. "Yeah, makes sense," he said.

"Cool," said 'Greg'. "You can go now."

Finn nodded. "Okay. See ya, uh, Greg."

He really had to try not to make those air-quotes. Hopefully 'Greg' didn't notice Finn's fingers twitch.

"Dude, what's up?" asked Finn. "You've said about five words since we left school."

Kurt hesitated. "I… forget it. It's stupid."

Finn frowned and leaned forward. "I bet it's not. What's up?"

Kurt bit his lip. "It's just… everything those guys were going on about, with the new coach… you don't think he'd really…?"

Finn blinked. "What? Oh, no," he said. "Relax. Just the guy's a bit weird, you know? So, uh, everyone says shit about him and gets all… whatever that word that doesn't have anything to do with spiders was."

"Paranoid," Kurt says, smirking.

"Yeah. That. Dude, shit like that happens with teachers all the time."

Kurt smiled. "Okay. Thanks, Finn."

After practice one time, Greg asked for help.

"Hummel-Hudson kids, mind staying back a bit?" he asked. "I know it's not really your place, but there are these boxes I need moved, so…"

Finn shrugged. "Sure. Whatever?"

Kurt was a bit more wary. "Why us?"

Greg shrugged. "I don't want to have to piss off two households about stealing their children longer than I need to. Just do me a favor and come, Kurt, please?"

Some of the guys snickered and Kurt frowned. "Alright," he grumbled, but he sounded pretty unenthusiastic.

"Hi ho, hi ho…" Finn sung quietly under his breath as he bent over to lift one of the heavier boxes.

"It's off to work we go," Kurt joined in as he walked back into view.

"…and I don't know the rest of the words, hi ho, hi ho hi ho hi ho."

Kurt smirked at him, while Greg just looked amused. Finn looked back at him. "Uh, sorry," he said. "We're in Glee; this happens a lot."

"It's okay," said Greg. "You're both very talented."

Kurt's body posture stiffened, and Finn was confused, because since when did Kurt not like getting praise? "Thank you," he said coldly.

"Don't mention it," Greg said quietly.

Finn shrugged and gripped the box tighter, stumbling a little as he tried to walk forward with it. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kurt and Greg trying not to laugh.

"Don't laugh at me!" Finn yelled, muffling it against the cardboard. "You guys couldn't do this better than me; you're both shortasses–"

Crash.

Finn falls to the ground, the box following suit and landing on his thighs (thanks for nothing, gravity). "Ow!"

Kurt rolled his eyes and muttered "You're a fucking idiot," under his breath. Finn was pretty sure he wasn't meant to hear that, but he did, and it pissed him off.

"Wait, what?"

"Uh, nothing," said Kurt.

"Dude, I heard you," Finn said. "I am not an idiot!"

"Well, uh… come on, did you not see anything shifty there?" Kurt asked.

"…No? And what does it have to do with anything?"

"Finn, didn't you see the way he was… forget it. If you're too dumb to look at what's going on, that's not my problem," Kurt said, slouching back in his seat.

Finn gripped the steering wheel harder. "I'm not dumb."

Kurt just snorted, and they rode in awkward silence for the rest of the journey home.

Things were pretty uncomfortable between Finn and Kurt after that. It wasn't even really that bad a fight, really, but neither of them were willing to apologize or talk about it.

So they both took to avoiding driving home together. Particularly, Kurt asked him one Tuesday, "Hey, Finn, me and Mercedes are going to the car. We're taking the car; do you mind?"

Finn shook his head. "Nah, it's cool. I'll get a ride."

There was an awkward silence again. "Okay," said Kurt eventually. Than he walked back to Mercedes, standing next to the car.

That 'getting a ride' thing? Turned out to be harder than he's thought. After like, the fifth person said they couldn't, Finn was annoyed. He sat down on the curb. Why was this so difficult?

"Finn? Are you okay?"

Finn looked up. "Oh, hey Greg," he said as his coach sat next to him. "I'm fine. Just a little pissy 'cause Kurt took our car to go shopping, and I told him I was cool with it and I could get a ride, but now I can't get a ride and it sucks."

Greg blinked. "Okay. If I were you, I wouldn't have just assumed I could get a ride, but..."

"Well, yeah, but I'm dumb like that," said Finn. He meant it to come out as casual, but it wound up tinged with a bit of annoyance over what Kurt said.

Greg didn't fight the charge, for whatever reason. "Look, you want me to drive you home?"

Finn shrugged. "Sure. Thanks," he said. Greg smiled and Finn followed him to his car.

Finn frowned when Greg took a particular turn. "Dude, this isn't the way to my–"

"Don't worry about it," said Greg. "I used to live around there; this way is shorter."

Finn accepted that, and didn't think about it. They were in a kind of creepy alley way (you know, the kind where hookers get murdered in horror movies) when Greg pulled to a stop.

Finn blinked. "Dude, why have we stopped?"

Greg stared at him disbelievingly. "You really are a moron, aren't you?"

Greg just laughed. "Whatever. You still think I'm following the rules?"

Finn was pissed now. He reached for his door, but Greg reached for the control panel and it was locked with a disturbing 'click'. Finn was panicking by this point.

"Dude, what the fuck are you doing?" he yelled, still pulling on the door. He tried unlocking it at his point, but Greg must have had it on childlock or something, because it wouldn't budge. Finn frowned.

"What do you think?" he asked, and undid his seat-belt. Finn sat back in his seat, suddenly realizing there was no way out. Shit, psycho-serial-killer coach has gotten to me and I will die. I should not have slept with Santana; stupid horror movie cliches, he thought.

Greg crawled over the controls, and maneuvers himself until he was sitting on Finn's lap. Finn didn't get it. "Wait, why are you... I mean, you're just some psycho..."

Greg rolled his eyes. "Finn. Stop. Playing. Dumb," he grabbed the side of Finn's face and leaned in. "If you didn't want this, you would have said it days ago. Unless you really are too dumb to figure it out, in which case, you deserve everything you get."

As if by way of explanation, Greg thrust his hips forward. Then Finn could feel–

feel–

Oh.

Fuck.

"I – I – I wanna go home," Finn blurted out. He could barely understand; but making it pretty obvious was the evidence of what exactly Greg wanted from him, jabbing into his thigh.

"I don't care," Greg dismissed him.

"Don't hurt me," Finn pleaded, even though it seemed pretty obvious that one way or another, he would.

"I won't. Relax," Greg dismissed him, locking his hands on Finn's shoulders to steady himself. It really wasn't reassuring. It wasn't long before he started moving his hips again; grinding against Finn's thigh with his eyes closed and mouth hanging open.

Finn's mouth was also hanging open, but for entirely different reasons. Shock and horror. He just knew that the feeling of that guy's dick pressed against his leg, even through clothes, made him want to be sick. Finn thought, on sheer strength, he could probably get this guy off him. But he couldn't get out (could he?) and then the guy would just be... Finn didn't know. He was just scared and didn't want this to be happening, and didn't want things to get any worse.

He felt pathetic and helpless for it, but eventually all Finn could do was stare up at the ceiling, whimper and hope it would be over soon. It was, although Finn had a feeling his sense of time was kind of fucked right now. 'Greg' sighed when he came, collapsing against Finn's shoulder.

"There. Done."

"...Okay," Finn eventually said, still staring up at the ceiling. It wasn't until he felt 'Greg' move off him and back to his own seat that he considered it safe to look down again, and was rewarded with seeing the jizz on his jeans for doing so. He doubled over and had to hold his hand over his mouth, but he managed to keep from puking. 'Greg' just rolls his eyes.

"Come on, kid, let's get you home," he said. Then he smirked and chuckled. "Seriously, you didn't ask any questions about the fact I already knew where you lived?"

Finn tried his best to understand; to come up with some kind of reason for it. "I – I–" There wasn't a reason. He just didn't think.

Finn managed to force his uncooperative arm muscles in the direction he asked, and grabbed the door handle. "Can I just walk?"

'Greg' raised an eyebrow at him. "You don't know the way back to your house from here. In case you were too dumb to pick this up – which you probably were – this isn't actually a shortcut to your house. We're quite off track, honestly."

"I..." Finn didn't have a response to that, and he didn't want to think about it. He just wanted out. "Please, Mr. Gregor. I'd rather walk."

"You know what the word 'rather' means?" Mr. Gregor said as a parting shot. Finn flinched. He wasn't that dumb. "Fine," the coach said, pressing the button to unlock the door. Finn scrambled out, not turning back to see the car speed away.

Finn walked, and it sunk in further and further that he really had no idea where he was. He made it out of the alley way, but that just left him wandering the streets, dazed and confused and bumping into a lot of people, who seemed kind of annoyed. Eventually, he just collapsed on the curb, burying his head in his hands and unable to not focus on that come-stain on his jeans.

Maybe he'd cry once he wasn't in shock.

Blind luck/terror (he wasn't quite sure yet) led to a car pulling up beside him. A red car. Finn thought he should look up, but he wasn't able to make himself do so until he heard a voice. "Finn?"

He realized it was Brittany at the wheel of the car. "Britt?"

"Are you okay?"

Oh, there were so many things he could say to that. None of which he wanted to. "...I'm lost," he eventually said, involuntarily sniffling. He sounded about seven.

"I should drive you home!" Brittany declared. "I know how to get to your house from here."

Finn flinched at the reminder. But it was Brittany, and she was cool. Then he frowned. "You've never been to my house, Britt."

She rolled her eyes. "Kurt's house. Your brothers, and brothers live in one house, so I go to Kurt's house."

Oh yeah, moving in with Kurt. He'd forgotten about that.

Even Brittany's smarter than me, he thought.

He stood himself up, hand shaky on the handle as he swung the door open. He more fell onto than sat on the passenger seat, shifting uncomfortably. Brittany frowned at him.

"There's come on your jeans."

Finn gaped at her, panicking at how obvious it was. Shit, what am I going to do? "I– I–"

"Hold on, I have something," she said, leaning over her seat to rummage around the bags in the back of the car. Under ordinary circumstances, Finn probably would have been tempted to stare at her ass. Right now, it just made him feel sick, so he didn't do it. Eventually Brittany came back, holding a liter bottle of Coke.

Which she then poured on his lap.

"Shit, Brittany!"

"There," she said. "Now no-one can tell you came in your pants," she gave him a perky smile. He looked down.

Uh, true. He couldn't see the jizz anymore (thank god). Her explanation of what had happened made him feel sick, but he went with it.

"Oh. Uh... thanks?" he offered.

"You're welcome," she said. "Now let's go. I think the things that make the lights work are getting mad at me."

Finn winced, and she set off.

When Brittany dropped him off, Finn did his best to enter without being noticed. No such luck.

"Finn," said his mom, "You're home late." She sounded curious, but not worried. Finn's kind of glad his mom isn't really the paranoid type. "And Kurt's not with you."

"Uh, he and Mercedes went shopping; they took the car..." Finn had to think a bit to find a lie. "Brittany drove me home. Being Brittany, we got lost, so... hence lateness."

His mom nodded like she accepted that, and Finn felt guilty – blaming it on Brittany's stupidity, when really it was because of his own. Then his mom cast an odd look to his jeans, and Finn was left stammering for excuses again.

"Uh... she spilled Coke on me," he said. "A lot of Coke."

It was technically true.

Mom nodded again. "Okay. You hungry?"

Finn shook his head. "Nah. I'm got a lot of homework; I think I'll get started on that?"

Mom shot him her 'who are you and what have you done with my son' face. Crap. That was not a good excuse – especially not given he had left his bag in Mr. Gregor's car, as he suddenly realized. Finn's stomach lurched as he remembered–

"Alright," said his mom, and Finn took that as permission to go up to his room. He slammed the door behind him when he got there.

Stupid, was all he could think.

Those tears that he had been on the edge on for hours (was it hours?) started falling. He tried to stop them, but it didn't help. Stupid tears, he thought.

Okay, that was silly.

Stupid, stupid, stupid; that was all he could think, and as he thought it his tears fell harder. It made him feel like a girl. His legs gave way and he collapsed against the doorframe, wrapping his arms around his legs and holding them to his chest in a flimsy (and obviously, too late) attempt to protect himself. He buried his head in his knees to try and stop his sobs from getting too loud, or from being overheard.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why on Earth did he take that ride anyway? Everyone said Mr. Gregor was creepy. They thought he might do something to Kurt; they thought the had to be all protective about. Kurt would never have been dumb enough to take that ride. But no; stupid Finn Hudson, clearly nothing would happen to him. Not even when the guy had his address without ever being told; not even when they were in some shortcut Finn had never heard of.

He remembered what Mr. Gregor said: If you didn't want this, you would have said it days ago. Unless you really are too dumb to figure it out, in which case, you deserve everything you get.

He didn't want it. He wanted to be sick about it. He should have known; he knew that. He should have seen some kind of warning signal; anything. He was just too dumb.

He had it coming.

The next morning, Finn was moving slowly. The bit of him that wanted to break down and cry like a girl had settled down – well, duh it was still there, but he wasn't actually doing it so it was okay.

For now, anyway.

Kurt greeted him with a smile. "Hello, Finn," he said, "Look, I want to apologize for yesterday."

Finn just blinked at him.

"I was avoiding you," Kurt explained further. "I'm sorry. I overreacted to that fight, given how small it was, and I was probably in the wrong by calling you stupid in the first place. So I'm sorry. You've overreacted too; this whole thing is stupid. Can we be talking again?"

Finn stared at him blankly. "Okay," he said.

Really, he was trying to keep himself under control. Because all he could hear was that implication: this whole thing was stupid.

You're stupid.

Kurt had apologized for saying that to him, but he hadn't taken it back. The more Finn thought about, he remembered the context – Kurt said he was stupid because he was okay with Mr. Gregor. Gregor had his hands all over him, and Finn didn't even realize... he didn't understand why Kurt was uncomfortable, when he was the one who should have been...

Kurt was right all along.

Kurt sighed. "So, can we just drive to school and everything can be fine again?"

Finn nodded. "Sure."

Kurt stared at him. "You know, if we're talking again, an actual sentence with multiple words and a verb and a subject and all could be useful."

Finn didn't follow past 'words' and wow, that shouldn't have been a knife to the heart like it was. Stupid, he thought.

"True, but I have this project on the school computer; I forgot to transfer it home yesterday, so I wanted to get in early and work on it. And send it home, obviously," Kurt said.

"Oh." Finn couldn't help but be a little ashamed. Kurt was a really good student, and Finn totally should have guessed something like that was the reason he wanted to start off early.

Stupid. You'd never do something like that for school, would you?

Finn flinched at the sound of his own thoughts.

"I mean, if you don't want to, we can always go at different times..."

"No, no," Finn insisted. "Dude, I have work I should do too. It's cool. Let's go."

Kurt looked a little uncertain and Finn felt more uncertain, but go they did. Yeah, he was bullshitting about the work thing, but whatever.

Really, given how Finn overreacted to Kurt just telling him what was probably true, Finn kind of owed him.

Finn really, really didn't want to go to football practice. But he did it anyway, because if he didn't the guys would be pissed – Kurt would bitch at him, if I can tolerate these practices so can you; the game is your interest – and he couldn't think of an excuse.

He was pretty much trying to hide all practice. He held his body in as much as he could; trying to make himself smaller, less visible. He was him, so it wasn't working much. All that happened was the guys kept asking him if he needed to pee.

After practice, Finn's major plan was to get the fuck out of there as soon as possible. Given it was one of his plans, that didn't work out so much.

"Finn," said Mr. Gregor, clamping a hand upon his shoulder. Finn jumped away and everyone laughed. Yeah, that wasn't weird, he thought. Way not to make anyone suspicious. "You, uh, left your bag in my car yesterday."

"Uh, I have it around here somewhere... I think it's in the back room, it might take me a while to go get it; mind coming with me?"

Finn's mouth went dry. "Uh, why do I have to..."

"I don't really remember what it looks like," Mr. Gregor explained. "I may not be able to identify it, because there are probably spare bags in there; especially given the low lighting, it'll be quicker if you help me find it."

Finn bit his lip. Dammit. But when Kurt told him to, he felt like he had to do it. Reluctantly, he followed Mr. Gregor into the heavy concrete room as winced as the door slammed shut. He couldn't help but feel like he was trapped in a bomb shelter or something – except, not, because they're meant to be the safe places, weren't they? Comparison fail.

Thankfully, he spotted his bag soon and practically ran over to it. "There it is!" he almost screamed with relief.

Mr. Gregor stopped him with a hand on his chest.

"Hold on, Finn."

Finn did so, shrinking away from the touch. "Wait, what are you..." He looked around desperately, although he wasn't sure what for. God, please, I didn't mean to do this again...

Mr. Gregor smirked at him. "Come on. You knew this would happen if you came in hear with me."

Finn tried to push past him, but Mr. Gregor was surprisingly strong. "Please, dude, I just want to get my bag!"

"Be patient. Jesus, Gen Y," he said. "Just hold on a bit. Let me do something, you'll get your bag, and poor Hummel out there won't have to worry about a thing."

"I'll scream," Finn threatened, and yeah, he sounded like a girl, but whatever. He just wanted out.

It didn't have the intended effect. Mr. Gregor just rolled his eyes. "No, you won't," he said. "Like Kurt Hummel hasn't dealt with enough crap thanks to you in the first place? I've heard your family talking; I've heard how uncomfortable things can be; didn't you get yourself kicked out once?"

Finn flinched.

"If you scream for him, all you'll do is ruin his life further – and your own. And if you didn't want something, I doubt even you would have been dumb enough to come in here with me in the first place."

"Oh, how stupid do you think I am?" says Mr. Gregor. "I wouldn't do something like yesterday here. Sorry to disappoint. This is just a little reminder – we'd be done if you'd stop babbling and sulking."

That did the trick – Finn finally shut up. He was out of words.

Mr. Gregor stepped forward, and leaned up to kiss him. It was a soft kiss, but it made Finn's blood curdle and his stomach roll. He would have gagged except his entire body felt paralyzed; he just stood there helplessly.

After not to long (way, way, way too long), Mr. Gregor pulled away. "There. All done," he said. "Go get your bag, kid."

Finn did so, and was in such a rush to get out that he mistimed his sprint towards the door and his hand movements, and wound up colliding with it face-first. Ow! In any normal circumstance, Finn would have laughed at his own clumsiness. But then Mr. Gregor laughed, and Finn had to do his best not to cry.

Once Kurt and Finn poured into the car, Kurt noticed Finn was shaking, no matter how hard he was trying not to.

Don't be stupid. It was a kiss, for god's sakes. Get over it.

"Finn? You okay?" asked Kurt, staring at him curiously. "You seem kind of... neurotic. Paranoid. With the shaking, I'm sort of worried about an epileptic seizure."

"What?" said Finn, trying to just catch up with that sentence. It was the word which was not to do with spiders again, and he couldn't remember what that thing was right now... wasn't epilepsy that thing with the rash? No, that's wrong. God, even Brittany knew that one. "Oh, uh, I'm fine. Sorry."

You suck at lying.

Kurt nodded at him. "Okay," he said, not challenging it. "So... he drove you home?"

"Uh-huh," please don't ask any questions; I don't know what to...

Kurt didn't. "Hmm. I probably wouldn't have accepted a ride from him, but..."

Finn flinched so hard he could barely see. It sounded like I'm too smart to accept a ride from him; this would never have happened to me.

"Finn eyes on the road!"

Finn realized he actually had closed his eyes, and wrenched them open in time to swerve away from going off road. Once they were back to normal, Kurt whacked him on the arm.

"Finn you idiot!"

It sounded like a gunshot this time. Bang.

"Are you insane?"

Bang.

"Do you have any sense of self-preservation? Do you even know what the words mean?"

Bang bang bang; you're dead.

Finn found himself fighting the urge to cry. "I – I – I'm sorry, man, I just..."

Kurt sighed deeply and leaned back sulking. "You could have gotten us killed," he said. He chuckled slightly. "Christ, what is wrong with you?"

"Dunno," Finn mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Britt? Am I stupid?"

It was Glee – well just before Glee – and Brittany and him were the only ones there so far. Things with Kurt were, again, awkward. They weren't talking after the fight, and Kurt wasn't apologizing for calling him stupid this time – the 'almost killing the guy' factor probably had something to do with that.

Brittany looked confused. "Yeah. Has no-one told you this?"

He flinched. "Yeah... just, I trust you, so I thought you'd tell me..."

Brittany smiled at him. "Okay. Well, yeah you're stupid. So am I. Everyone says so, about both of us – I mean, I don't really know... but whatever. Clearly, stupid's not so bad, because we're awesome."

She sounded so bright and happy that his first impulse was just to collapse on her. He wanted to believe it, really. But he didn't do either – collapse or believe it; he couldn't for the latter, and Rachel would probably get mad at the former. Plus, given his size compared to Brittany's, there was a vague risk of squashing her to death.

"Hey? Remember that ride you gave me home?"

Brittany blinked at him. "Yeah?"

"Don't mention it. To anyone."

"Why?"

"Don't ask."

She accepted this. "Okay. Pinky-promise," she offered her pinky to him, and in a brief moment of to hell with it, he did the same. He was a little scared of breaking her finger, but they shook and it was done, no problemo. Finn felt dumb for worrying. "You owe me a bottle of Coke," she teased.

He nodded and people started filing in; Britt rushed over to Santana's side, and Finn bit his lip. Kurt came in but only briefly looked at him, instead focusing on his talk with Tina and Artie.

Finn found himself staring at Brittany and Santana for most of the lesson, and not for the reason he usually would be (what? He was a teenage guy!). He was looking at Brittany, mainly, and panicking. And if being stupid did this to him, he couldn't help but be terrified about what could happen to her.

He was in the change rooms, showering. Not that it was actually a practice day, but he had gym and always took forever in the showers nowadays. The guys made fun of him for it, but... he couldn't help it. Kurt had some study thing, so it wasn't important how long he took.

"Hi Finn."

"Gah!" Finn called out, stumbling against the wall in his attempt to see who was there. Ow. When he realized it was Mr. Gregor, his eyes went wide and he immediately tried to cover himself up (and failed). "What the fuck are you doing here?" he shouted somewhat hysterically.

"Shush. Don't make anyone think you're being murdered."

"I, uh..." is this really much better? He thought, but he didn't want to say that.

"Don't come any closer! Don't touch me!" Finn yelled, pressing himself against the wall and away from Mr. Gregor.

The coach went still, instead putting an arm to each wall. Finn was trapped. "Fine," he said. "You do what I say, and I won't lay one finger on you"

Finn was actually relieved for a second. "Oh. Okay."

"Don't try to run away," Mr. Gregor warned darkly. Finn nodded – what else could he do, really? – before Mr. Gregor took a hand down to his pants and started to pull out...

"Dude," Finn said, panicking, "You said you wouldn't..."

"I won't. Exact words, Finn. If you were smarter, you would have spotted that," said Gregor as he pulled out... it. Finn did his best not to see. "Look at me," Mr. Gregor said, and Finn was too scared not to obey.

So he looked. He didn't want to – the sight of the thick, leaking head as Mr. Gregor wrapped his hand around it and started to stroke made Finn want to be sick. But once he had started looking, he couldn't quite stop – because he was scared of what Mr. Gregor would do to him and because he was... something he didn't have the words for.

"Stop," Finn whispered. Gregor just looked at him with a smirk.

"What, Finn? I'm not touching you. You asked me not to touch you and I won't touch you; count your blessings," he said, and Finn looked down, embarrassed. This isn't as bad as that thing in the car. "Don't be stupid about it. Keep quiet; there's a good boy."

Finn honestly gagged. "I'm not stupid," he tried to defend himself, but it was no use.

"You are," Gregor said. "Why else would I pick you?"

Shit! Brittany! "But you don't just go after – I mean, Britt said she and me–"

"She and I," Gregor corrected him.

"No, she and me were the ones–"

"No kid, I was correcting your grammar," Gregor explained. Oh. "As for Brittany..." he squeezed his dick tighter and Finn felt sick(er). "Yeah, she's hot. And a fucking moron, like you – plus a bit of a slut. I could get her like this, no problem. Thanks for the idea, Finn."

"What?" Finn asked, distraught. "No! I was trying to tell you–"

"Not to touch her? Uh huh. And who will stop me?" Mr. Gregor asked.

"I – I–"

"Can't do a thing, we both know that," Gregor said. "Except maybe... if you keep me happy; don't whine, I won't need to look for anyone else. I'll admit, I had my eye on Hummel to start with, but he was too smart to get into this whole situation so..."

Finn flinched. "I – I mean, Brittany – Kurt is – fuck," he had absolutely no idea what to say. He wanted to cry. But when he thought about it, he realized the important thing was protecting everyone else. "...Alright," he whimpered.

And suddenly, Gregor was coming; long streaks of jizz landing on Finn's chest. Finn doubles over and almost threw up.

"You okay?" Mr. Gregor asked.

Finn was still gagging, but he forced himself back up. He wanted to say No, duh, but he didn't. That would probably be 'whining', and he didn't want...

"Yeah. I'm fine."

Gregor nodded. "Good," he said, tucking himself back in. "See you tomorrow, Finn."

And then he just left, like nothing had ever happened. Finn groaned and wound up collapsing to the floor of the shower stall; he pulled on the hot water tap and it came down boiling as he fell. He didn't really have the energy to care it was too hot at the moment.

He broke into sobs, muffled by the sound of the running water. It wasn't long before he puked all over himself, and seriously, ew.

"Finn? Can we talk?"

Finn blinked to realize it was Kurt standing in front of his locker, looking anxious. "Uh... okay," he said. "Is this about the car thing? Because, man, you're right. I could have gotten us killed, and I was being really stupid, so I'm sorry, but I don't want–"

"To hell with the car thing!" Kurt yelled and Finn jumped back. The people around them stared as Kurt collected his breath. "I don't care about it, okay; it was at least a fortnight ago, now will you please just talk to me?"

He sounded desperate by the end, and Finn was caught between overwhelming guilt and overwhelming confusion. "Wait, what? I don't know what you mean."

"You've barely said a word to me since that whole incident, Finn – we live in the same house; you can only avoid me so much before I notice something's up," Kurt said.

"I – I – Dude, I wasn't..." he wasn't avoiding Kurt. Not purposely anyway. When he thought about it, he remembered how he had shrugged Kurt off in those moments he was just to tired and aching to deal with anyone; or when all he could hear was Finn you idiot!

"Is this about what I said?" Kurt asked. "Calling you stupid? Because you're not, okay. You're funny and sweet and thoughtful and my pseudo-stepbrother and my former crush and I miss you," he blurted out. "So can we be talking again, please?"

Kurt nodded. "It's okay," he said. Finn noticed he didn't argue against what was just said.

Finn sighed. "Look, you wanna skip out of here and go to that low-calorie ice cream place you love?"

Kurt smiled. "Ice cream, caring about my diet, and getting my out of seventh period English. You sure know the way to a man's heart, Finn Hudson."

Finn laughed as they walked off.

The next practice, Puck stormed into the change rooms before anyone else apart from Finn was there. He looked furious, and Finn was a bit weirded out. "Dude, what's up?" he asked.

Puck breathed in and balled his fist. "Nothing. It's freaky and stupid," he said. Then he paused. "Wait, why the fuck am I not telling you? You've got the best chance at actually fixing this shit, man; your sorta-bro is freaking me the fuck out."

Puck sighed and sat on one of the benches. "Dude has these bruises on his wrists. He wouldn't talk about 'em; didn't want me to see 'em. You saw how that creep of a coach was all over him when he first came here; can't help but think he tried something, and Hummel's got those bruises 'cause he fought back. So now I'm like, panicking."

Finn gaped at him. "Wait, Kurt..."

He couldn't help but remember what Mr. Gregor said: if you keep me happy; don't whine, I won't need to look for anyone else. What did this mean?

Puck looked up at him. "Dude, tell me Hummel's dad is one of those psycho-awesome dads who would like, take on the Russian army bare-handed if their kid needed them to. Because that would make making that Gregor fucker pay a lot easier."

Finn nodded. "Yeah... Burt would kill anyone who..." he couldn't quite figure out how to complete that sentence. Instead, he sat down next to Puck. "Dude, don't you think Kurt would..."

Puck shook his head. "Man, I don't know. I don't even like the guy, but I feel like I oughta–"

"Yeah," Finn cut him off. He was caught on something else Coach Gregor once said: I had my eye on Hummel to start with, but he was too smart to get into this whole situation so...

If Kurt was smart, but got into this situation just like Finn, did that mean Finn wasn't as stupid as he thought after all? That he didn't have it coming thanks to his complete idiocy?

And then Finn promptly started hating himself for thinking that. Dude, who would wish that on their sort-of stepbrother? Fuck the smartness, if he was going to think that he deserved it all just for being an asshole.

Finn didn't ask Kurt – he couldn't imagine that Kurt would tell him the truth. So he asked the only other person who would know, even though it scared the shit out of him.

"Did you do something to Kurt?"

Mr. Gregor blinked up at him from his seat at his desk. "Wait, what?"

Finn swallowed deeply, looking backwards out of the corner of his eye to keep the door in his vision – he had not been happy about having to get the guy alone for this. "Did you do something to Kurt?" he repeated.

Mr. Gregor shook his head and looked confused. "No. Like I said before, I probably would, but he's too smart to fall for it. May I ask what prompted this question?"

"Uh..." Finn's not sure how to put it. "Puck," he eventually says. "He saw that Kurt had these bruises on his wrists... and was all hide-y about where they came from. Puck's always thought you were creepy, so he thought you'd done something and Kurt had fought back... Hence, bruises. He told me. You said you would do it if you could, so... yeah, I had to ask."

Gregor snorted. "Not that I'm lying – because I can't be bothered – but why on Earth would you think I'd tell you the truth?" he asked. "I highly doubt I'm the person you trust the most in the world."

Finn flinched. "Because... I knew Kurt wouldn't, if it happened," he admits. "He'd be... embarrassed. Feel like he deserved it," dude, stop projecting. "And you like to gloat. I've noticed that. So if you'd gotten to him too... I thought you'd tell me, just to rub it in my face."

Gregor cocked his head to the side, then stood up to sit on the desk rather than his chair. Finn unconsciously started shuffling away from him, closer to the door. "So..." drawled Gregor, "You willingly got me alone... just so you could ask that question?"

"Uh..." Finn shuffled even further backwards. "Yeah," he said. Mr. Gregor smirked at him. "And now... I have asked that question... I will like, go..."

Gregor rolled his eyes and caught Finn by the wrist. "Yeah, you didn't genuinely expect that to work, did you?"

"I – I–" Finn tried to pull his wrist away, but Gregor squeezed it tighter. He was surprisingly strong; Finn could see him giving Kurt bruises.

"You cannot seriously be that naive, that you expected we'd have this conversation and I wouldn't..."

Finn sighed in defeat. "Yeah, I knew it would happen," he admitted. "But... it was kinda gonna happen at some point, and I needed to ask, so it was a kind of get-it-over-and-done-with thing."

Gregor raised an eyebrow at him. "Seriously, you figured that out?"

Finn flinched. "Yeah," he said, then tried to raise a brave smile. He failed miserably. "So... that get me a reprieve? Can I just go now?"

Gregor looked at him like he was crazy. "Okay, one, you know the word 'reprieve'? Two, what on Earth gave you that idea?"

"Wishful thinking?" Finn said. He looked down at the ground. "I want to go," he mumbled.

Gregor sighed. "Well, as your singing club once said – sang – you can't always get what you want."

"Wait, you know about that?" Finn asked. Then he returned to stressing and panicking. "You know, I could probably get out of here. The doors not far away. There'd be a bit of a fight, and I'd probably win and get out and people would know something was up and you'd be in deep shit – so, uh, if you'd just–"

"Yeah, and how would you explain?" Gregor asked, and Finn was confused. Wait, what? "Okay," Gregor said at his blank look, "Obviously, your memory's as bad as the rest of your brain. Try and remember Hudson – this is hardly the first time something's happened."

"So?"

"You've never said anything before. You've never even fought me back – you got in my car, you let me grind against you, you let me kiss you, you let me jerk off over you in the showers," he explained, and Finn winced. "Face it, Hudson – if you try and say anything, all you'll hear is a question why you didn't say sooner. I know you're you, but you can't be dumb enough not to know the only reason you would have kept quiet that long was if you were getting something out of it," he said with a smirk. "And given how your household already has one queer kid in its midst, those are going to be some nasty implications – do you think that poor pseudo-brother you were trying so hard to protect will like hearing how he 'turned' you?"

Finn was shocked and distraught. Because he hated everything Mr. Gregor just said, but it seemed to make so much sense – and if it didn't, well, he couldn't tell how it didn't. "You can't call him that," he shot back. Because dammit, he had to fight something.

"What?" asked Gregor.

"Kurt. You can't call him that," Finn said, staring Gregor down. All it did was prompt his coach to uncontrollable laughter.

"Wow, you are priceless," he said. "Seriously. You'll let me do whatever I want to you, but I can't use slightly homophobic language towards someone else entirely?"

"It's not stupid. Kurt's my–"

"Yeah, Yeah," Gregor cut him off. "I've heard my share of overprotective big brothers in my time, believe me. Although you two aren't actually related so..." he trailed off. Finn did not want to think about when that had happened. "Anyway, speaking of what you've let me do, you haven't done enough for me."

Finn cringed to hear those sorts of words put to it – he was trying so hard to avoid thinking all Very Special Episode. "You... really don't care what you're doing, do you?" he asked, biting his lip.

Mr. Gregor looked at him disbelievingly. "Did you just figure that out?"

Finn avoided answering the question – he didn't know what the answer was; some part of him had been sure that Mr. Gregor was in denial about what he was doing, and thinking that he wasn't hurting Finn, as opposed to just plain not caring. Although Finn didn't know how exactly that would be better.

"So... What do you want me to do?"

Mr. Gregor smirked at him. "Get on your knees, Finn."

Finn blinked. "Why?"

Gregor rolled his eyes. "Why do you think?"

Then Finn looked down, and saw the swelling lump in Mr. Gregor's lap. It made him sick just to see it. The connection that his brain refused to make initially finally slid into place, and he shook his head. "No!"

Gregor raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"I don't want to," said Finn, and yeah, it was a dumb response, but it was all he could think of. Idiot.

Mr. Gregor outright groaned. "Finn, even for you, unless you have some sort of memory disorder, this must have sunk in by now – no-one cares what you want."

Finn bit his lip. "But I–"

"Shut up," Gregor cut him off. Finn did so. "Really, you said you'd keep me happy. Are you really going to risk everyone – like your queeny stepbrother; or the pretty, dumb cheerleader – because I offend your delicate sensibilities."

And Finn was left speechless, out of arguments and out of the energy to make arguments. He wanted to be safe and he wanted everyone else to be safe. He wasn't even sure Mr. Gregor was telling the truth about the Kurt thing, but if he was, Finn couldn't let it become not-truth any time soon. Kurt deserved better than that. He was pretty sure his two wishes were in direct contradiction, and he didn't think he could really accomplish the first no matter how hard he tried, so he did his best for the latter. Finn Hudson did what he had to do.

He knelt.

He met up with Kurt at home. "Kurt?" he asked, trying to speak through that milky feeling and sick (awful, dirty, wrong) taste at the back of his throat. It almost felt like he had drunk milk, but that wasn't it and all he could think was...

"Finn," Kurt responded in turn. "What's going on?"

"Did Coach Gregor do something to you?" Finn blurted out before he could stop himself. Kurt blinked.

"Wait, what?"

"Uh..." Finn didn't know what to say. "Puck said... there were bruises on your arms. He started asking about them, and you wouldn't answer, and he was freaking and he told me..."

Kurt responded by rolling his eyes and muttering "Dear lord." There was an awkward silence as Finn started at his long-sleeve covered arms.

"Can I...?"

"What? Oh, yes, sure," Kurt held his arms forward and rolled his sleeves back, allowing Finn to see the suspicious finger-shaped bruises that were most definitely there. "What happened was, me and Britt were practicing some new moves for the Cheerios, and she got a bit over-enthusiastic in showing me how. She's Brittany, after all. Hence, I wound up with these bruises."

Finn swallowed hard. "Then... why didn't you just tell Puck that when he asked?"

Kurt blushed a little. "Come on, Finn. Brittany gave me bruises. You people feminize me enough as it is; it just would have been... embarrassing."

Finn nodded, staring at Kurt's face. He looked for some kind of sign he was lying, but he didn't find any – Kurt seemed embarrassed, but he also seemed one hundred percent honest. An even worse feeling settled in Finn's stomach; something he couldn't place. "So... you were too smart to..."

He trailed off, and Kurt looked at him curiously. "To what?"

Finn suddenly realized what he had been about to say. "Uh, nothing. I was being dumb," he said, and Kurt accepted it.

"Okay. Then tell Puck I'm both surprised and a bit flattered that he cared enough to bring it up with you," Kurt said. "Now, I need to go call Tina."

Kurt walked off, and Finn waited until he was out of eyesight before he ducked into the bathroom to puke. He watched little bits of white come up with his lunch, and suddenly he realized what that feeling was: disappointment.

"Brittany, I'm going to kill you!"

Said girl looked up in surprise when Kurt burst into the choir room. "Wait, why?"

"These?" he showed her his bruises. "Thanks to you, now everyone thinks the football coach molested me!"

Kurt sighed and sat down next to her. "Agreed," he said. "Basically, the guy's been weird for a while, so when people – Puck and Finn, particularly – saw I had bruises, their immediate thought was that he'd tried something with me, and I'd fought back – that probably says something about the American educational system, honestly," he explained. "I'm not really mad at you, honestly."

Brittany frowned. "Finn?"

Kurt blinked. "Yeah? Well, actually, it was more like Puck who saw the bruises and came up with that idea, then he told Finn so... I think Finn might of been freaking a little, given he was the one smart enough to actually accept a ride home from the creep that one time."

Brittany furthered her frown. "He did? How do you know? When'd it happen?"

Kurt was a little taken aback. "Uh, a couple of weeks ago. He left his bag in Gregor's car, so at the next practice I had to wait around for them to go get it... it took a stupidly long time, actually."

Brittany was still frowning, and Kurt was starting to worry. "I had to drive him home a couple of weeks ago," she said. "But I just like, found him on the curb while I was half way home. And he didn't have his bag, so that might have been the same time... plus he must have jizzed in his pants at a really weird angle, or something happened, because it was totally there on his jeans. He still owes me a bottle of Coke."

Kurt gaped at her, as things started to fall into place. "Brittany... he came out of Gregor's car distraught and with semen on his pants?" he asked. "You had to drive him home, and you just happened to be lucky enough to find him?"

Brittany nodded as Kurt thought; he remembered how strange and distant Finn had been for the last couple of weeks. He remembered how Gregor's odd behavior had died down around him. He remembered the way Finn sounded when he was asking if Gregor had touched Kurt; like his heart might just fall out of his chest.

"Fuck, I'm an idiot!" he blurted out. "Why didn't you tell us about this sooner?" he asked Brittany. She looked taken aback.

"It didn't come up! And then he asked me not to, so..."

Kurt sighed deeply. "Yeah, because that's not suspicious."

Upon there conversation, Mr. Schuester burst in, looking flustered. "Come on, where is it," he said, rummaging through some drawers. Then he noticed Kurt and Brittany. "Uh, hey, guys. There's no Glee today; I have a staff meeting."

"I know," Kurt says. "I just needed to talk to her, and guessed she probably wouldn't remember. And she hadn't remembered to tell me some really important stuff before now, so it turns out to have been a fairly good idea."

"The whole team finds the man incredibly creepy," Kurt explained. "They kept being paranoid that he might do something to me. But Finn has been acting strange and distant for awhile; when I think about it, he started acting strange and distant two weeks ago, after the night I know Coach Gregor was meant to have driven him home – and Brittany just told me she actually drove him to our home that night, after finding him lost and distraught and just sitting on the curb – which would be suspicious enough on its own, without the lovely detail that Finn did had semen on his pants at the time."

Will absorbed this information, nodding slowly and gritting his teeth. "I... Excuse me. I have a staff meeting to go to," he said quietly. Kurt and Brittany shared worried looks.

Then Mr. Schue stormed out, those drawers still hanging open.

Figgins knew Will would be late, but he didn't expect him to make his entrance by storming in, throwing Harry Gregor onto the table and punching him in the face.

"Schue! What on Earth are you doing?" Figgins cried out as the teachers gape and gasp. Schue paid it no heed, and just kept punching the man until a few people pulled him back. Greg peeled himself off the table slowly, as Will snarled at him like an animal.

"So," said Gregor, "Is there... an explanation for that? What did I do?"

"Don't," Will said. "You know what this is about. My kids told me what they figured out; I know what you did to Finn. You're sick."

Figgins looks between the two men in confusion. "Schuester, Gregor, I think we should discuss this in my office," he said. "This meeting is canceled!"

Finn was not expecting his mom to get called by school, or for them to be demanded over there. Or to know Kurt was still there.

"Wait, what?" he asked when his mother told him.

"They just said they need to speak with us. All of us. Apparently it's very important," she said. "They said they didn't want to talk about it over the phone."

"Come on, kid, let's go," Burt added.

Finn sighed. He was dreading going, and he didn't really know why. But he picked himself up and went.

When they got there, Finn was a little surprised. Figgins, Mr. Schue, Coach Gregor, Kurt and Brittany were all crowded around the office, apparently waiting for Finn, Burt and Carole. That was a little unsettling (as was being around Gregor in general).

"Hey, guys," said Finn, keeping a smile the best he could, "What's going on?"

Kurt and Brittany shared a look. Mr. Schue glared at Coach Gregor. Figgins sighed, and Finn was starting to panic. "That's what we need to ask you, Mr. Hudson," said Figgins, and everyone started to stare at him. Gregor smirked, and Finn took a step backwards.

"I – I don't understand," Finn said.

"Your teacher, your stepbrother and your friend here–" Figgins indicated Schue, Kurt and Brittany, "–have rather vocally accused Mr. Gregor over here of sexually abusing you. Only you can tell us if there is any truth to this."

"Wait, what?" his mom yelled, then he turned to stare at Finn. "Finn, is this true?"

It took him a while to form a response – he could barely understand what was happening. "But I'm stupid," he eventually whispered.

"I beg your pardon?" asked Figgins.

Finn finally looked up and met Mr. Gregor's eyes. "I'm stupid. You told me that. You told me I deserved it because I was dumb enough to..." he trailed off and turned to the rest of the people around him, looking horrified. "Why are you all asking? Why do I deserve that?"

There was a heavy silence. "Son of a bitch!" Burt yelled, breaking it while he lunged for Coach Gregor. Kurt held his arm and persuaded him back.

"Easy dad. Mr. Schue already tried that; it would be enormously satisfying to watch, but probably wouldn't do us any good."

Burt exhaled, but stood still. "Fine. But the bastard will pay one way or another."

"I agree," said Principal Figgins, surprising everyone. "From Mr. Hudson's reaction, I'd say I know what I believe. Harry Gregor, you are officially fired from McKinley High School. I do not no if any legal proceedings will go ahead – that is not my choice – but I promise you, I will make sure you never teach again."

Coach Gregor stared at him blankly. "Fine," he said, before he stood up and started heading for the door. "But remember, kid," he said to Finn, "You got out of this thanks to luck. You weren't smart enough to save yourself."

And then he's gone, and everyone's left staring at each other uncomfortably. "I apologize for the fact we ever hired that man," said Figgins. "I assure you, we will work harder to make sure no-one of that sort of disposition will ever be hired by McKinley High School again."

"Sure," Burt snorted.

"Dude, it wasn't their fault," Finn whispered. "It was... whatever."

There was another awkward pause. "So... did we do something good?" Brittany asked.

Kurt sighed. "Yes, Britt."

"So he won't be mad because we told? And because I told you about that thing he asked me not to?"

"Finn, I'm really sorry," Mr. Schue added. Finn smiled at him, then Schue turned back to Figgins. "So, I won't get in trouble for punching him?"

"I think under the circumstances, it's excusable," said Figgins.

"Can we go home now?" Finn asked. "I'm really tired."

"Of course," said his mom.

Once they got home, Finn's immediate reaction was to collapse onto the couch. The rest of the family stood around him, not entirely sure what to say. Instead, Carole just slid onto the couch with him and wrapped her arms around him; he wound up sniffling onto her shoulder. The Hummels looked at each other awkwardly.

"Finn, I'm really sorry," said Kurt. "I saw the way you were acting; I never trusted Gregor; I should have figured this out earlier. I was ignorant, and self-absorbed... and I'm sorry."

Finn smiled at him. "It was only two weeks, dude; you did alright," he said. "It wasn't your fault. I mean... I shouldn't have let this happen. You wouldn't have taken that ride from him, you said; I was dumb... I'm really sorry too; that I fucked this up for you."

Kurt gaped. "Don't say stuff like that," Burt blurted out, giving the argument Kurt couldn't put into words. "This was not your fault. You are not stupid, and nothing you could ever have done would make you deserve what that bastard did to you, okay? This is his fault. No-one else's; definitely not your own."